Daniel 2

Lesson Aim

To understand that God controls world events.

Hook 1: Large picture

Have as large a picture as possible. Draw round a person lying on a role of wallpaper backing paper. Cover the outline with a ‘thought bubble’ effect to represent the dream. Unveil different parts of the picture as you progress through the story or attach pieces of the statue painted in different colours.

Hook 2: Person

Get a person to act as the statue. Stand them on a chair or table and dress them in different coloured clothing or paper to represent the different parts of the statue.

Hook 3: Pictures of statues or world leaders.

Have a picture of Nelson’s Column or of other local statues. Briefly explain the purpose behind statues (a person is being remembered). How many of these leaders do later generations forget?

Hook 4: Pictures of past and present world leaders

Get the children to identify a picture of the Prime Minister. Then show a picture of a previous prime minister who they can’t identify. Do the same with pictures of two American presidents and two monarchs. We think of our present leaders as famous and powerful but in time they are forgotten. However, God is still in control of world events.

Hook 5: Questions

Who can remember their last dream? Sometimes we have strange dreams which stick in our memory. Recount one of your own strange dreams. A king’s dream played an important part in today’s Bible story.

Story Tips:

Do not spend too much time on the meaning of each section of the statue. It is enough to say that each part represented another great empire which would fall.

Application

The children should understand that the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was God’s way of showing that he, not world leaders, controls world events.